Willie R. Tubbs, FISM News
ORLANDO – Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo likely did not make many friends in Beijing with his remarks during his CPAC speech Friday morning. The Trump-era cabinet member referred to Chinese President Xi Jinping as a “jack-booted thug” and urged audience members to take steps in their communities to further limit Chinese influence in the United States.
“What happens in Beijing does not stay in Beijing,” Pompeo said, later warning, “Today, they are inside our colleges and universities. They are working on local governments, mayors, and governors.”
Pompeo said the way forward was through Conservative action at the state and local levels.
“You should demand that your mayor, your county commissioner, your school board member, your governor doesn’t kowtow, does not bend the knee to the Chinese communist party,” Pompeo said.
Pompeo has long been at odds with China. He made waves during his tenure for closing the Chinese consulate in Houston.
“You should know that didn’t make me any friends at the United States Department of State,” Pompeo said. “You should also know I didn’t give a rip.”
Conversely, Pompeo said, President Joe Biden has been overly deferential to China. Pompeo was aghast that U.S. Olympians were told to avoid speaking out during the Beijing Olympics and that the athletes had been insufficiently protected against Chinese spying and data collection.
“All we did was tell them take a burner phone like a drug dealer,” Pompeo said. “Don’t use your rights as an American to say the things you care about, because if you do those bad guys where you’re going to compete, well, they just may not let you come home. We could have done more.”
Pompeo found little on which to compliment the Biden Administration regarding its work on U.S. security and foreign policy matters. He began his speech with a lamentation of recent developments, then ripped into the current president for failures in his dealings with Russia, China, Afghanistan, and Iran.
“In the last 14 months, we’ve seen governors that don’t wear masks, but require 3-year-olds to do so,” Pompeo said. “We’ve seen a man break swimming records in girls swimming races. We’ve seen a Russian dictator now terrorize the Ukrainian people because America did not demonstrate the resolve that we did from the four years prior.”
Unsurprisingly, the former Secretary of State took umbrage with Biden’s handling of the Russia-Ukraine crisis. Early in his military career, Pompeo served in Eastern Europe.
“It was last time we had Americans in Europe standing face-to-face with the Russians,” Pompeo said. “How did we prevail? It was peace through strength. It was Reagan’s model. It was the model we used for four years. We put America first, and we told people around the world you cannot tread on us.”
Pompeo, who also served in Afghanistan when he was in the military, stopped his speech at one point to address the feeling of failure and pointlessness numerous veterans of the Afghanistan war have faced following a speedy U.S. exit and equally swift reemergence of the Taliban.
“I know watching what happened in Afghanistan was hard,” Pompeo said. “It was difficult, and it was depressing. Some of you have questioned if your service was wasted. As a former Secretary of State, I want you to know that the work you did in Afghanistan saved American lives. I saw it firsthand … your work was important.”